*** Note : With release of stable version 4.0 onwards, chrome got extensions working on stable channel too. This post hence just remains like a little antiquity which reminds us of old days ***

Firstly, being sport, I will have to admit the fact that the major chunk of internet users use Firefox … But the striking fact is that its not because of the features it offer, but its due to the fact that other guys too use it. As a matter of fact, many users of Firefox don’t utilize the range of features it offers.

Enter Chrome, which got into picture in December 2008, and managed to strip off pretty good number of Firefox loyalists to its side. Chrome sports an innovative look that is often referred to as you either would love it or you won’t. The most important feature of chrome is its speed. Open the application in a blink of a second and load the web pages much sooner than other competitors.

But the major drawback which Chrome suffers is lack of any plug-in mechanism in stable channel, which gives an edge to its competitor Firefox, which has a rich collection of plug-ins available. Chrome rolls out its new versions in three categories-

a. Stable versions – These are updated not too often and are updated only once the new version is found to be very stable. As of now, stable version doesn’t support plug-ins.

b. Beta versions – These are updated nearly monthly, new features constantly being added. They are a little unstable at times, the next update fixing it. New beta versions have been added with plug in system.

c. Dev versions- These are the development versions, the newest ones which are released nearly weekly. They can get very unstable. These ones support add-ons, and developers are making a plenty of them.

Here, we will learn to embed a popular Ad removing plug-in, called Adsweep, and use it in stable channel chrome.

Nearly all websites put Ads on them to generate revenue … Yahoo puts Ads of matrimony and newer version of Yahoo messenger, Piratebay and Isohunt sport pics of half stripped chicks which gets annoying if you are being watched, would you not like to strip them off fully, from the browser page I mean … :p !! And other Ads of online games, software applications etc which keep on appearing on nearly all web pages. If you aren’t interested in any of them, it makes sense to get rid of them, since not only do they consume bandwidth (though merely little), but also diverts attention!

Firefox have a plug-in AdBlock that works wonders, but what about we chrome loyalists? Developers fought back and came out with AdSweep. It is pretty good in blocking Ads and can be relied upon. One drawback is that it requires little tricks and gimmicks to get it working. For this reason I am working on making an installer for the same to ease the task, though I don’t promise, will try to get it done soon. Follow these steps –

Now, go to http://www.adsweep.org and see that there is no Ad on the top and a red box on upper left side notifies the version of AdSweep installed. Now on, you can surf the internet without caring for annoying ads. Adsweep was closed some time ago and the project have started again, but this time there is no support for mainstream chrome. Hope Google is soon going to enable API which will let us embed plugins on stable versions too.

You can download other popular plug-ins for chrome from this website and embed them too.

Though Chrome has many advantages over rival browsers, lest Google itself develops a plug-in integration system, Chrome will continue to face adversaries. But Chrome has always had its loyal knights, who are ready to fight back for her!!